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Octave Mouret
Baudu is Denise’s uncle and the owner of a small drapery shop called the Vieil Elbeuf. He is loyal to his traditional ways of business, so when the Ladies’ Paradise starts to attract business across the street, Baudu clings to his old-fashioned drapery shop. He bands together with other small businessowners like Bourras and Robineau in believing that it is ludicrous that the Ladies’ Paradise sells more than one good. He thinks that Mouret’s success is an illusion that is bound to fail. At first, when the success of the Ladies’ Paradise is tenuous, it is unclear whether Baudu’s opinion is rational or irrational. However, as the Ladies’ Paradise becomes more established, Baudu’s hatred towards it becomes more fanatical. His obsessive hatred causes him not to see the non-financial consequences of his contest with the Ladies’ Paradise. He doesn’t notice that Colomban is enthralled with the Ladies’ Paradise and believes that he is a loyal, hardworking relic of the old days instead. Also, he doesn’t see that Geneviève is suffering as a result of Colomban’s disloyalty. He sticks to the idea that he can get the Vieil Elbeuf on good standing for Colomban and Geneviève—an idea that becomes more and more senseless in the midst of progress. When Geneviève and Madame Baudu die and the Vieil Elbeuf goes bankrupt, Baudu—too embarrassed to accept Denise’s offer of a job at the Ladies’ Paradise—goes to a home for the elderly.
Baudu Quotes in The Ladies’ Paradise
The The Ladies’ Paradise quotes below are all either spoken by Baudu or refer to Baudu . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
“Has anyone ever seen such a thing? A draper’s shop which sold everything! Just a big bazaar! And a fine staff too: a lot of dandies who pushed things about like porters at a railway station, who treated the goods and the customers like parcels, dropping their employer or being dropped by him at a moment’s notice. No affection, no manners, no art!”
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Chapter 7
Quotes
The manufacturers could no longer exist without the big shops, for as soon as one of them lost their custom, bankruptcy became inevitable; in short, it was a natural development of business, it was impossible to stop things going the way they ought to, when everyone was working for it whether they liked it or not.
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Chapter 8
Quotes
It was true, it was stealing everything from them: from the father, his money; from the mother, her dying child; from the daughter, a husband for whom she had waited ten years.
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Chapter 13
Quotes
She seemed to hear the trampling of a herd of cattle being led to the slaughterhouse, the destruction of the shops of a whole district, the small traders squelching along in their down-at-heel shoes, trailing ruin through the black mud of Paris.
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Baudu Quotes in The Ladies’ Paradise
The The Ladies’ Paradise quotes below are all either spoken by Baudu or refer to Baudu . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
“Has anyone ever seen such a thing? A draper’s shop which sold everything! Just a big bazaar! And a fine staff too: a lot of dandies who pushed things about like porters at a railway station, who treated the goods and the customers like parcels, dropping their employer or being dropped by him at a moment’s notice. No affection, no manners, no art!”
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Chapter 7
Quotes
The manufacturers could no longer exist without the big shops, for as soon as one of them lost their custom, bankruptcy became inevitable; in short, it was a natural development of business, it was impossible to stop things going the way they ought to, when everyone was working for it whether they liked it or not.
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Chapter 8
Quotes
It was true, it was stealing everything from them: from the father, his money; from the mother, her dying child; from the daughter, a husband for whom she had waited ten years.
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Chapter 13
Quotes
She seemed to hear the trampling of a herd of cattle being led to the slaughterhouse, the destruction of the shops of a whole district, the small traders squelching along in their down-at-heel shoes, trailing ruin through the black mud of Paris.
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